The Blue Bulls are a far cry from where they were in last year’s Currie Cup at this stage of the season, but they are not getting carried away by their success.
It was a tough introduction to senior-level coaching for former player Edgar Marutlulle, whose Bulls team suffered some big defeats last year, with the final straw being a defeat to the Griffons in Welkom.
Marutlulle was soon sent back to the Bulls’ junior structures by director of rugby Jake White, who took over and helped the side reach the semi-finals. But it has been smooth sailing for new head coach Phiwe Nomlomo, with the Bulls winning four games in a row to top the Currie Cup log on 18 points.
Their latest triumph was a come-from-behind effort against fierce rivals Western Province at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday.
The Pretoria outfit were trailing 27-3 at one stage in the first half, but mounted a superb comeback to win 50-34. Ahead of Friday’s clash against last year’s champions, the Free State Cheetahs, in Bloemfontein (5pm start), the Bulls know that they will have a long way to go to win the title.
“I honestly don’t think about logs, because it’s such a long comp – and a short comp, if that makes sense,” Nomlomo said after the WP game.
“So for us, it was really, really important to play at home and give a proper performance that we can be proud of.
“Yes, there are things that we could’ve done better in the first half. In the second half, we rectified a lot of things – and I’m not just talking about the score, but our accuracy, intent. We said we wanted to be ruthless, and we really showed ruthlessness – to score 40 points to seven, that says something.
“It’s not about being on top of the log. It’s about that continuous improvement. For us, it’s not just about games, but about the preparation in the week and how we can be better, and the senior players stepping up and the growth of the younger players.
“I’m helluva chuffed, as I know that the guys have that sort of performance in them. Even pre-match, we talked about ‘it will click, we just have to be patient’.
“We were probably not patient enough in the first half, and in the second half we just managed it a lot better. Everyone knew what the plan was from the start, and we stayed in the moment.”
But it wasn’t perfect against WP, and the Cheetahs will be waiting to pounce after losing 25-13 to the Bulls at Loftus a few weeks ago.
Nomlomo wants his players to take more initiative with their decision-making, while he wants the set pieces to be smoother as well.
He also has a few injury and selection concerns, with wing Sergeal Petersen (groin) and No 8 Mpilo Gumede (cramp) leaving the field against Province, while centre Cornel Smit (niggle) wasn’t involved at all.
On Saturday, the Pumas host the Sharks, and Western Province face the Purple People Eaters, the Griffons. On Sunday, the Lions will look to bounce back from a disappointing result against the Sharks when they travel to Kimberley to face the Griquas.